Purchase your tickets for SolFest 10 -- Aug. 20-21, 2005 -- online now through Wed., Aug. 17. (Tickets sold through Aug. 17 will be held at will call for you.) Tickets are also available at ticket outlets and at the gate the day of the event. Additionally, tickets are available with $50 and $100 memberships.

On the weekend of August 20 & 21, the Solar Living Institute will welcome thousands of people from around the world to SolFest. During the festival, our 12-acre solar-powered demonstration site becomes a hotbed of education and world-class entertainment, as a benefit for the non-profit Solar Living Institute. SolFest 2005 marks our 10th anniversary, and we hope you will join us for an unforgetable weekend of celebratory music, informative workshops, tasty organic food and drink, and a hearty helping of inspiration.

Amy Goodman returns to SolFest again this year. Amy has been a leading voice in independent media for 20 years. In 1996, Amy helped launch Pacifica Radio’s Democracy Now!. We are pleased to welcome Amy back to SolFest. You won't want to miss her dynamic presentation!

SolFest this year additionally features nationally-known keynote speakers including L. Hunter Lovins (an award winning author, speaker and consultant on sustainability), Derrik Jensen (author of Strangely Like War), Richard Heinberg (author of Powerdown and The Party's Over), Michael Toms (New Dimensions World Broadcasting Network), Mike Ruppert (author of Crossing the Rubicon), Matt Savinar (founder of lifeaftertheoilcrash.net) and others, as well as world-class entertainment, including Mickey Hart partnering with Rhythm Village, multi- instrumentalist David Lindley, folk-legend Holly Near, Grammy-nominated acoustic guitar wizard Alex de Grassi and his trio, the smokin' hot sounds of Bettie Mae Fikes and her Blues Bank, and San Francisco-based Afropop from Aphrodesia.

Admission includes access to dozens of informative workshops. Educational topics this year will include solar power, composting, green farming, home- brewing biodiesel, and much, much more. We will have new workshop areas to explore, and new interactive activities for the entire family. Be sure to look for our SolFest specials on workshop registrations when at our workshop tents this year. You won't want to miss these special deals on our remaining workshops in September, October, and November!

Attendees will also be able to partake in book signings with world-famous authors, and browse over 190 exhibitors and vendors -- more than ever before! Additionally, we are planning a "state of solar in California" panel with activists and elected officials. Also new this year, we will offer an opportunity to start each day with Living Yoga. You can also take yoga classes all day in the Gaiam Yoga D'Om.

Be sure to stop by the kitchen garden during SolFest for a very special treat - solar cookies. The recipes and cooking will be by TV personality "The Hippy Gourmet," who has a nationally syndicated cooking show that features organic and natural foods. The Hippy Gourmet will be baking up solar cookies all weekend, so stop by for a free taste of delicious sun- baked goodness. The ovens are being provided by the Solar Oven Society, which is generously donating the ovens we need for SolFest, and even providing one for our raffle booth. If you like what you taste, you can stop by our raffle booth for a chance to win your very own solar cooker.

And, don't miss the NAVAJO WEAVERS MAKING THE TREK FROM BIG MOUNTAIN TO SOLFEST. Traditional Navajo weavers are visiting us from the Big Mountain Community, and will be displaying Navajo-Churro sheep, the original and true sheep of the Navajo people. Look for the elders and the sheep on your left as you come in the main gate. Stop by and check out these unusual and beautiful creatures, and greet the elders who have made the long trek out from the Southwest. In addition to displaying sheep, and demonstrating their centuries-old weaving techniques, the elders will have rugs and jewelry for sale to benefit the weaving cooperative and the Big Mountain Community. Bring your checkbook!

If you have been to SolFest before, then you know it is a weekend not to be missed. If you have not, then this summer will be a great time to come to Hopland, and join us as we celebrate ten years of powerful ideas.

And, remember, between now and Aug. 17, become an Institute Partner (member) at the $50 level and get two free one-day tickets to SolFest. Become a Partner at the $100 level and get two additional free one-day tickets and free admission to the SolFest Saturday Night Party.

• SolFest Website
• Ticket Locations
• Speakers, Performers & Workshops
• Sponsors & Exhibitors with Site Map
• Lodging / Travel
• Volunteer

If you have an interest in volunteering for our SolFest event, please let us know as soon as possible. Our volunteer coordinator is still looking for volunteers for traffic control, parking, security, exhibitor load-out, and day-after-event cleanup and recycling.

Complete the SolFest 2005 Volunteer Information Sheet and Michelle will get back to you.

It takes over 300 volunteers each year before, during, and after the event to put on SolFest. Volunteers are rewarded with free admission and can take great pride in helping to educate thousands about the importance of sustainable living.

Thank you for your interest in helping make SolFest a success again this year.

Through Wed., Aug. 17 in our web store, we have a special with our PARTNER membership program. Join at our $100 LEVEL and receive the following great benefits:

• four one-day fully-transferable tickets to SolFest 2005 -- an $80 value;
• the NEW 12th Edition of the Solar Living Source Book -- a $35 value;
• a copy of The End of Suburbia DVD -- a $24 value;
• a copy of the Oil on Ice DVD -- a $20 value;
• a one-year subscription (3 issues) or our SOLutions newsletter; and
• a waiver of the $10 telephone registration fee for all workshops for a year.

A vast expanse of western Siberia is undergoing an unprecedented thaw that could dramatically increase the rate of global warming, climate scientists warned yesterday.

Researchers who have recently returned from the region found that an area of permafrost spanning a million square kilometers - the size of France and Germany combined - has started to melt for the first time since it formed 11,000 years ago at the end of the last ice age.

The area, which covers the entire sub-Arctic region of western Siberia, is the world's largest frozen peat bog and scientists fear that as it thaws, it will release billions of tons of methane, a greenhouse gas 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide, into the atmosphere.

It is a scenario climate scientists have feared since first identifying "tipping points" - delicate thresholds where a slight rise in the Earth's temperature can cause a dramatic change in the environment that itself triggers a far greater increase in global temperatures.

The discovery was made by Sergei Kirpotin at Tomsk State University in western Siberia and Judith Marquand at Oxford University and is reported in New Scientist today. The researchers found that what was until recently a barren expanse of frozen peat is turning into a broken landscape of mud and lakes, some more than a kilometer across.

Dr Kirpotin told the magazine the situation was an "ecological landslide that is probably irreversible and is undoubtedly connected to climatic warming". He added that the thaw had probably begun in the past three or four years. Climate scientists yesterday reacted with alarm to the finding, and warned that predictions of future global temperatures would have to be revised upwards.

"When you start messing around with these natural systems, you can end up in situations where it's unstoppable. There are no brakes you can apply," said David Viner, a senior scientist at the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia. "This is a big deal because you can't put the permafrost back once it's gone. The causal effect is human activity and it will ramp up temperatures even more than our emissions are doing."

Western Siberia is heating up faster than anywhere else in the world, having experienced a rise of some 3C (or over 5.4F) in the past 40 years. Scientists are particularly concerned about the permafrost, because as it thaws, it reveals bare ground which warms up more quickly than ice and snow, and so accelerates the rate at which the permafrost thaws. Siberia's peat bogs have been producing methane since they formed at the end of the last ice age, but most of the gas had been trapped in the permafrost. According to Larry Smith, a hydrologist at the University of California, Los Angeles, the west Siberian peat bog could hold some 70 billion tons of methane, a quarter of all of the methane stored in the ground around the world.

The permafrost is likely to take many decades at least to thaw, so the methane locked within it will not be released into the atmosphere in one burst, said Stephen Sitch, a climate scientist at the Met Office's Hadley Centre in Exeter. But calculations by Dr. Sitch and his colleagues show that even if methane seeped from the permafrost over the next 100 years, it would add around 700 million tons of carbon into the atmosphere each year, roughly the same amount that is released annually from the world's wetlands and agriculture. It would effectively double atmospheric levels of the gas, leading to a 10% to 25% increase in global warming, he said.

Read more about this in the following articles:

• The Guardian, Aug. 11, 2005
• BBC News, Aug. 11, 2005
• New Scientist, Aug. 11, 2005

The Million Solar Roofs bill in California is close to passing. It has two more steps to go before it can be put on the Governor's desk for his signature. To help solidfy support among a majority of California's 120 legislators, Environment California is sponsoring the Milliion Solar Roofs Lobby Day on August 17th at the State Capitol in Sacramento. Activists from across the state will visit the capitol to show their support for solar power, meeting with legislators and their staff.

Environment California needs your help to make this day a success. You don't need to have any expertise or lobbying experience. They will hold a brief training at 11 AM and then visit offices in the afternoon. Just bring your passion for solar power.

The Million Solar Roofs bill would build a million solar power systems over 10 years and half of all new homes with solar power. That would grow California’s solar market 30-fold, cutting the cost of solar power in half and bringing clean air and energy independence to all Californians.

The Million Solar Roofs bill would accomplish these goals by:

• Creating a $2.5 billion fund to provide one- time rebates to homeowners of both new and existing homes as well as businesses, farms, and schools over 10 years. The fund would come from a small surcharge on ratepayer bills of around 55 cents per month. Low income ratepayers would be exempt from paying into the fund but 10% of the available money would go specifically to installing solar on affordable housing and low income homes.
• Allowing these million new solar customers to receive a credit on their electric bill for any power that they generate but do not use themselves.
• Requiring new, large single-family housing developers to make solar panels a standard offer, similar to marble counter tops.

Oregon is getting more energy from the sun than it ever has before. Since 2003, Oregon's solar generation has grown by one MW, serving more than 250 homes, businesses and public organizations.

This progress has been made possible by the solar electric program from Energy Trust of Oregon, Inc., and energy tax credits managed by the Oregon Department of Energy. Energy Trust has provided more than $3 million in direct incentives to homeowners and businesses installing solar energy systems since 2002. It has $1 million more to offer through this year and expects to invest another $2 million in 2006.

"Oregon has installed more solar electric systems in the last two and a half years than it did in the last 20 years combined," said Kacia Brockman, solar program manager, Energy Trust. "Homeowners and businesses around the state are demonstrating every day that solar can be a significant part of our goal to generate 10% of Oregon's energy with clean, renewable resources like solar."

Energy Trust offers incentives of up to $10,000 to homeowners and up to $35,000 for businesses investing in solar photovoltaic systems through network qualified installers. Larger systems may be considered for an incentive through Energy Trust's Open Solicitation program. Energy Trust incentives are in addition to available state and federal tax credits.

Manchester (England) City Football Club's commitment to clean energy will be hard to miss as the club arranged for Ecotricity to erect a commercial scale wind turbine on-site at the stadium.

The SportCity Wind Turbine project is a global first in sporting history, and will single out the city of Manchester stadium as the only sporting arena in the world to have its own commercial wind turbine installed on-site. Excess power from the turbine will also be used to supply energy to the homes of people in East Manchester.

"The carbon emission savings from the SportCity turbine would be equivalent to that of at least 2,000 homes and would really make strides into the long- term goal of making Manchester a truly green city," said Manchester City's chief executive, Alistair Mackintosh.

Here are some interesting new links to check out concerning the ongoing discussion about oil depletion:

• Threats of Peak Oil to the Global Food Supply by Richard Heinberg, MUSELETTER, July 2005
• How to Avoid Oil Wars, Terrorism, and Economic Collapse by Richard Heinberg, MUSELETTER, Aug. 2005
• What Happens When Oil Does Peak? by Joel Bainerman, 321Energy.com, Aug. 10, 2005
• Several Articles on Global Public Media

The End of Suburbia: Oil Depletion and the Collapse of The American Dream (DVD or VHS)

WE OFFER THE BEST PRICE ON THE INTERNET AT $19.50.

Order from us, and help support our work.

The End of Suburbia explores the American Way of Life and its prospects as the planet approaches a critical era and as global demand for fossil fuels begins to outstrip supply. World Oil Peak and the inevitable decline of fossil fuels are upon us now some scientists and policy makers argue in this documentary. The consequences of inaction in the face of this global crisis are enormous. What does Oil Peak mean for North America? As energy prices skyrocket in the coming years, how will the populations of suburbia react to the collapse of their dream? Are today's suburbs destined to become the slums of tomorrow? And what can be done NOW, individually and collectively, to avoid The End of Suburbia?

This DVD, or VHS, is an excellent introduction to the issue of oil and natural gas depletion coming soon to a neighborhood near you. If you haven't picked up a copy of this rivoting documentary, do so today! You won't want to miss it!

Regular price is $24, but we sell it for only $19.50 -- the best price on the Internet. Ordering your copy of this DVD or VHS from the Solar Living Institute helps support the work that we do.